A major new motorway service station including a drive-thru restaurant is planned for Fermoy. Kilworth-based company J.R. Oronco Ltd. have applied for planning permission from Cork County Council for the development at Junction 14 of the M8.

The planned development comprises a shop/restaurant building with a drive-thru and take away facilities, storage and service areas, a forecourt and canopy, fuel facilities for heavy commercial vehicles with a canopy overhead, underground fuel tanks, a substation, car wash, picnic and external seating areas, parking and set downs areas.  The developers, Richard O’Flynn and James O’Hanlon, directors of J.R. Oronco, are also seeking to put a new entrance and roundabout onto the R639 regional route with amendments to the existing entrance serving the Teagasc facility at Moorepark. The townlands the new development would be situated in are Fortroe and Moorepark West.

If it gets the go ahead, it will be the second major motorway service station located at Junction 14, competing with Amber Service Station for business from passing trade on the M8, as well as local business. Owner of the very successful Amber Service Station on the Dublin road, Fermoy, Dave Ryan was planning a €1m extension to facilities there to include a drive-thru restaurant and take away with external seating and a smoking area, as well as extra car parking for 60 cars and 17 trucks. Planning permission was granted by Cork County Council for the redevelopment but a number of nearby residents objected to an Bord Pleanala. Their decision is awaited.